Person Old Testament
Abigail
Also known as Abigail =NIV, KJV; Abigal =ESV
Abigail, David's sister, was the mother of Amasa, who became the commander of Absalom's army. Mentioned in 3 verses across 2 books, first at 2 Samuel 17:25.
Why it matters. Sister of David; mother of Amasa
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Abigail
Abigail was the daughter of Jesse and the sister of King David, as mentioned in 1Ch.2.16-17. She married a man named Jether, who was an Ishmaelite (2Sa.17.25). Abigail and Jether had a son named Amasa, who played a significant role during the rebellion of David's son Absalom.
During Absalom's revolt against David, Absalom appointed Amasa as the commander of his army, replacing Joab, who had been David's military commander (2Sa.17.25). After Absalom's defeat and death, David offered Amasa the position of commander-in-chief to appease the supporters of Absalom.
However, when David sent Amasa to gather the men of Judah, he took longer than expected. This delay prompted David to send Abishai and Joab to pursue the rebel Sheba. Joab, seeing Amasa as a threat to his position, killed him (2Sa.20.4-13). The biblical text does not provide further information about Abigail's life or her reaction to her son's death.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 3 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.